Friday, March 5, 2010

Much of the America's Cup community is descending on New Zealand over the coming days ahead of the Louis Vuitton Trophy Auckland regatta, which begins next week.

Although BMW ORACLE Racing isn't fielding a team here, it is a founding member of the WSTA and remains a strong supporter of the Louis Vuitton Trophy. BMW ORACLE is planning a return to action in May in the next regatta in Sardinia. The Auckland event was simply too close to the America's Cup Match for the team to be prepared to race competitively here.

But several team members are in town, including Grant 'Guthrie' Davidson. More are expected over the next week or so.

"We've committed to providing one of our ACC boats (USA 87) to the regatta as a backup," Guthrie said by way of explaining his presence in Auckland. "The event will primarily be raced on the two Emirates Team New Zealand boats and we'll provide our boat as backup in case of any problems.

"Our two ACC boats will also be used in the La Maddalena event in Italy and onwards in the other stops on the Louis Vuitton Trophy circuit, so we're getting both boats readied and then we'll ship them back to Europe after this regatta. USA 98 is now being prepared to be put on it's keel and then they'll both go on a ship at the end of March."

In addition to overseeing the boats here, Guthrie is catching up on some family time, following the final frenetic push in Valencia.

"It's nice to be home reconnecting with the family, sitting by the pool, playing a bit of tennis! It's a beautiful place to be at this time of year."